Legionella detected at Washington County VA clinic

Clinic closes Friday

Once again, the deadly Legionella bacterium has been detected at a Pittsburgh area Veterans Administration facility.

In the past two years, five veterans died following a Legionnaires' outbreak at the Pittsburgh VA.

This time, Legionella was found at a VA clinic in Washington, Pa. The bacterium was detected during a routine test of the water system.

The VA says the bacteria levels were low but it still decided to close the clinic Friday as a precautionary measure.

A VA contractor who operates the clinic is working to treat the water system. The clinic is expected to reopen Monday.

The VA has been under intense scrutiny for the way it handled the earlier outbreak of Legionnaire's disease.

The daughter of one veteran who died in that outbreak said she was not surprised to hear about what happened at the Washington County clinic.

“Why is anybody surprised? It's all run by the same people. People that are incompetent,” said Maureen Ciarolla of Monroeville.

The VA says it has been doing regular Legionella tests at all four local clinics as well as the VA hospital in Oakland and the H.J. Heinz campus in O’Hara Township. The water at all those other facilities has proven to be safe.

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